Lost In Your Hands
by GuitarHeroLost
Summary: It's another OC Lost story...submissions closed!
1. Submissions

Okay, well, now that the fire's died down a bit, I'm making my own Lost OC story

Okay, well, now that the fire's died down a bit, I'm making my own Lost OC story.

The idea belongs to the originator, LordXwee, who writes a kickbutt OC story.

So you all probably know how these things work, but those of you who read my stories know that my fanfics are very, very different, whether good or bad, that's not my decision.

I have a couple rules. One, please, NO repeat submissions. I like my fanfictions to be different, thank you.

Two, don't ask for you character to be included more. They will be immediately killed off in a most painful way.

Three, if you truly believe that the character you're submitting is the best darn character you've ever thought up, tell me. I'll do my best to keep them alive.

I will be randomly killing off characters, but there's a catch. If yours does happen to die, you submit another one if you want. I would feel eternally guilty for doing that.

So here's how it's going to go down…

Be as detailed as possible. All characters will be accepted, but if yours isn't specific, they're more likely to be killed off.

The first chapter will be the start of season 4, picking Team Locke or Team Jack. Be sure to add that in the submission form.

Any questions, ideas, suggestions, whatever, tell me. You have control in this fanfic, you decide. And if you want to add something about your character, tell me. I'll add it in.

I think that's all…except, there's one character that formed in my head that I never had the chance to submit. I'll be submitting him into my own…if you don't mind.

Here is your form!!

Full name: (give me the real name and, if they have one, nickname. Whatever they prefer to be called.) David Smith. And he prefers David.

Age: (it shows who they would generally hang around with or who they could be paired with, and how they would act.) 24.

Group: (Locke, Jack, Other, Freighter, on their own, creepy vision, you name it.)He was going to go to Locke but was convinced by Kate otherwise.

Friends/Enemies/Pairings: (be as specific as you possibly can. It really tells a lot.) He's good friends with Kate, Charlie, Hurley, Desmond, Sun, Jin, and Claire. He gets along pretty well with Miles and Ben too. Sawyer becomes very jealous of how close he and Kate are, as does Jack. Sayid once thought he was an Other, so they're not good friends. He immediately hit it off with Kate, but they're just friends. He and Ana-Lucia were just about a couple before she died. Otherwise, he's not really interested in any of the girls on the island. (Unless there's a certain female OC.)

Attitude: (towards kinds of people, towards being on an island, towards everything.)he's actually pretty cheerful, considering he's stranded, but you can tell he dislikes it a lot. He's usually quite kind to everyone, but mean to those who don't like him. He uses insults to everyone, but most of them are just in good fun.

Personality: (it's a bit different than attitude, so try and decipher it the best you can.) He's the comedian of the island. He prefers more random jokes over nicknames and insults. He's always upbeat and energized. He gets bored easily. He hates very serious moments and therefore always tries to fit a joke into the conversation. He can be a bit full of himself sometimes or even kind of mean if he's trying to make someone laugh.

How/Why On Island: (How'd they get there and why did they come.) He was in the crash because back home he won a drawing for tickets to Australia and back.

Appearance: (be very specific. It gives mea good picture in my mind.) He's really short for his age; he uses this to his advantage and buys children's tickets into museums or parks. He smiles a lot. He has very small eyes that are dark bluish-green. He's got thick, straight blonde hair that covers most of his ears. The tips of his hair reach the middle of his neck and almost his eyes.

Past: (Where did they live? What did they do? Etc.) He survived 4 miraculous incidents as a child, so he's pretty lucky. He's always been the smartest and funniest kid in his grade level, and would basically entertain all the popular kids. Before winning the ticket to Australia, he was about to start his fifth year at UCLA. He once met Ana-Lucia in a bar.

Interests/Strengths/Hobbies: (What do they do when they're bored? What are they really good at?) He likes to talk and make people laugh. Despite his size, he enjoys sports and is particularly good at soccer. He detests sitting still and the only way you can make him do so is to give him some sort of a logic puzzle. He's really logical and he LOVES sudoku puzzles. All his life, he's loved watching fire and explosions, unless they're hurting people. He also has a strange addiction to chewing gum.

Possessions: (Mr. Eko's Jesus Stick, Daniel's journal, Walt's dog.) he has a blue sports jacket with white stripes and a red and yellow soccer ball (he supports Spain), which was lost during the crash.

Weaknesses: (We've all got 'em so spit it out.) He gets angry and impatient. He can't fight for his life, but he can strategize and talk his way out of things. He's also got an immense fear of being tortured, hurt, or killed, so he'd do anything to get out of it. You wouldn't want him to be captured, because he'd give away anything if he was threatened.

Catchphrases: (Jack's traditional 'live together, die alone', Locke's ever-popular 'don't tell me what I can't do', Michael's famous 'WAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLTTT.') 'It seemed like a good idea at the time', 'can't argue with that logic.'

Preferred flashbacks: (can't guarantee them but I'll do my best) Meeting Ana Lucia, surviving deadly events, bonding with people on the island.

Misc.: (I forget anything? Put it here.) Nope.

So there's your form. Do me a favor and tell me how your character would get along with David…and you can add him in your Past or Friends/Enemies/Pairings section. Have fun!


	2. The Right Choice

**Okay there is NO way I could fit all the characters into this chapter…sorry but they WILL show up next time if not here. This chapter is mixed flashbacks.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, the characters, or the idea. Man. I feel like a bum.**

"They can't be here to rescue us," Corey folded her arms stubbornly. "It just doesn't fit." Corey watched as all her friends-Kate, Sun, Rose, and Sayid-stayed behind at Jack's group, and her heart dropped.

"Don't worry," Abby smiled a mysterious smile at her. "I'll come with you. I…I can't go back. This place is nice." She stared around at the dark jungle.

"Okay," Corey said confidently. "I think it's the right choice. You with me?"

"Yeah, of course," Abby said and they walked over to Locke's side. "I mean, really, what could possibly go wrong?"

'_,',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',', ',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',', ',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',',_

_Abby was somewhat nervous. She was pretty confident that she knew what she was doing and had a good chance about getting the job, but she couldn't help but be a little anxious._

_One of the doctors was walking by with a clipboard at hand. He halted and gave Abby a second glance. He smiled lightly and said, "Excuse me, do you need something?"_

"_Oh, no," Abby smiled back. "I'm just…waiting for my interview, is all."_

"_Oh, I see," the doctor said. "Well you seem like you would make a great doctor. I hope you get the job."_

"_You can tell if I would be a good doctor just by looking at me?" Abby questioned. "You don't even care about my medical experience?"_

"_Well, that would help," he said and she laughed. "I'm Carlisle, Carlisle Taylor. Nice to meet you…"_

"_Abby," she held out her hand which he shook._

"_Abby," Carlisle said. "Nice to meet you, Abby. I hope I'll see you around here soon."_

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_David was doing something you'd rarely see him doing: sitting on the sand and staring out at the waves, when someone called out his name softly. "David?"_

_He turned. It was Kate. "Hey."_

_She didn't look too good. She sat down beside him and sighed. "Jack said he showed you my mug shots."_

"_That he did," David said. Kate waited for him to say more, but he didn't._

"_I wanted to tell him what I did," Kate said, not looking him in the eye, mainly because he wasn't looking at her. "But…he said it didn't matter. I think it does matter. I don't want to be the girl on the beach with all the secrets. If I tell you what I did, it won't be a se-."_

"_Kate, you're rambling," David interrupted._

_Kate smiled lightly. "I killed my father." David gave her an alarmed look and Kate explained. "He would come home every night, drunk! He would…get mad. He would beat my mom. A lot. I couldn't stand watching it and she wouldn't turn him in. I rigged his house so…when he got home, it…blew up. I had to."_

"_I don't blame you," David said. Suddenly, a few feet in front of them, a mixture of sand and water flew up with a bang. Kate jumped and David laughed. "I love explosions."_

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"What are you doing?" Edward and Kate said at the same time. David turned back towards them.

"You heard what Charlie said," David said as an excuse.

"Yeah, not Penny's boat, who cares?" Edward said.

"Uh, they lied to us," David said. "They lied about this, what else are they lying about?"

"Just because it's not Penny's boat, doesn't mean it's not rescue," Edward smirked.

David paused for a second and walked over to them. "You're right. I'll stay." In an undertone, he added to Kate, "But you got to promise me one thing."

"What?"

"If they are here to kill us," David said quietly. "And I die, you have to promise me this. If I die, you've gotta blow all their houses to hell."

"Done," Kate laughed slightly.

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"_Who is she?" Mattie ran to catch up with Sawyer. "Who's the girl Jack brought back?"_

"_Juliet," he mumbled. "She's one of them."_

_Mattie stopped in her tracks. One of them? One of those who took her siblings? No way. Not Jack._

"_What the hell is wrong with you?" Mattie said angrily, confronting Jack. "Are you some kind of moron? Bringing one of them back with you?"_

"_Look, I know you're mad," Jack said. "But she's not like them. They left her behind too."_

"_Well, duh, they left her!" Mattie exclaimed. "You ever think about why, Jack? It's because they want her to come to this camp! They knew you'd let her come! She's a spy!"_

"_Is there something wrong?" It was Juliet's voice from behind Mattie. Mattie whipped around and hit her as hard as she could in the face so Juliet fell to the ground._

"_Where are they?!" Mattie demanded, tears in her eyes. "If they're hurt at all, that'll be a bullet next time!"_

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"We can't go with him," Mattie said. "How could anyone go with him? He joined the Others! He's a traitor!"

"Idiotas," Noe muttered. "No need convincing me, girl. I don't like that man. But I'm going to go and find them if we have the chance to get rescued. Some of them might change their mind."

"Don't bother," Mattie said bitterly. "They deserve it. It's their own problem if they're stuck here because they're too stupid not to stay."

Noe gave her a weird look. "You know, I don't get you. I don't know anything about you. I think you've been by yourself too long. You should socialize more."

"I'm glad I didn't!" Mattie said. "I wouldn't want to get to know those people."

"Lower your voice, please," Noe said desperately. "You're freaking me out a bit."

Mattie glowered at her and turned and left. She went to sit by herself next to the plane, alone once again.

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"_Wait, Hurley, you're serious?" Valeria asked him as the group-except Jin- dispersed. "I mean, really? A car, in the jungle?"_

"_Yeah!" Hurley told her excitedly. "It's not a very nice one, probably wouldn't get much speed, but I mean, come on, it'll be something to do, right?"_

_Valeria grinned to herself. Now that's what her idea of fun was. "I'm in. What are you waiting for? Let's go!"_

_Hurley, Jin, and Valeria head out to the overturned car. "Whoa, dang. There's beer AND a car?!"_

"_Hold up on the drinks, Valeria," Hurley said. "We should get this thing going first. Let's turn it over."_

"_Where's my stuff?" Sawyer said, appearing randomly. Valeria's heart skipped. Sawyer was back! He was okay!_

_Valeria was the first one to give him a huge embrace. She couldn't help but grin at Jin's English, too. Nothing could spoil this day._

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Apple asked lightly. "I mean, Locke, you never know about him. What's he thinking?"

"Well, I know one thing for sure," Valeria said. "I'm not staying on that beach. I've got a bad feeling about it."

"But…it's Locke…" Apple stammered.

"Look, I know where I'm going," Valeria said impatiently. "Are you coming or not?"

After a few seconds, Apple nodded. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely," Valeria said confidently and strode over to Team Locke.

**Sweet…I think that's all the crash survivors…everyone else will be introduced next chapter.**


	3. Taking Things Into Your Own Hands

**Each chapter has a specific person who gets a few flashbacks, and I made a deal, I do not go back on promises, that Matilda Smith gets the first flashback. **

**Elyad: Kate had already killed her father by age 23 in the show, so I'm adjusting it so she didn't kill Wayne till after she and Mattie met. Nothing changes for you, I suppose, but I'm just letting you know.**

All of Team Locke were taking a break on the way to the Barracks. They momentarily tied Benjamin Linus and Lillian Barker to trees.

"Lilly, I need you to do something for me," Ben said quietly.

"Yes, Ben?" Lilly asked quickly, determined to do whatever it is he asked right.

"Alex won't trust me, so I need you to talk to her for me," he whispered. "You need to take her and Karl to the Temple and away from here. With those people from the freighter turning up, things will get dangerous."

"Of course," Lilly nodded. "But…do you think I'll be able to make it back before those people get here?"

Ben paused for a moment. "I believe you misunderstood me, Lilly, you're not coming back. It's dangerous for you, too, you have to keep those two and yourself safe at the Temple. And take the pregnant girl too…you never know."

Lilly was flattered and devastated at the same time. But slowly she nodded. "Alright Ben. I'll do it."

Little did they know, Abby heard the entire thing.

"_Don't try to move, it might hurt."_

_Mattie couldn't help but squirm a little in the hospital bed. She grimaced at the pain in her back. "Wh-what happened?"_

"_You were in an accident, dear," the doctor told her. "Your father was drunk. He crashed into another car."_

"_Are they-what happened to everyone else?" Mattie asked._

"_Your entire family survived," the doctor said. "Your mother and father have nothing but a few scratches and your little brother as well. But Serena…she has a few broken bones in her right arm. The other car wasn't so lucky. We've got an arm injury and a head injury on one and the other won't wake up."_

Jack and Kate had gone running off into the jungle after the sound of a helicopter. Mattie was slowly making her way over there when she heard something to her left.

Mattie glanced back and forth. Jack and Kate had gone right and there was something to her left…she took the risk and pushed her way through the bushes to her sharp left.

A woman was struggling her way out of a parachute. "Hello?" Mattie asked nervously.

The woman halted. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Simone Pevinsie," she answered. "I'm part of the freighter."

"I'm Matilda, or Mattie," Mattie told her. "So…so you're here. You're actually going to rescue us?"

Simone broke out in a grin. "Yeah, yeah I am!"

Mattie couldn't help but grin too.

"_Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Janssen," 13-year-old Mattie shook the woman's hand._

"_Diane, please, dear," she smiled. "My daughter is upstairs visiting, you two may get along, if you want, it's the third door on the right."_

_Mattie smiled and nodded. She slid her shoes off and walked carefully up the stairs before knocking on the bedroom door._

_A girl with curly brown hair and freckles opened the door. "You must be mom's friend's daughter. I'm Kate."_

"_Mattie," she said and shook her hand too. Kate indicated for her to sit down._

"_You don't seem like a country girl," Kate said._

_Mattie shook her head. "Nope. I'm from Sydney."_

"_Australia? No way. That's so cool. I've always wanted to go there."_

"_Well maybe you will someday," Mattie shrugged. "And maybe I'll see you there."_

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, Ben was NOT kidding, we have to get out of here!" Abby said quietly to Apple.

"Well," Apple said slowly. "How does Lilly expect to get away with Alex and Karl? This doesn't make sense, Abby."

"It makes perfect sense," Abby said. "Ben knows that the people coming will do whatever it takes to get him, and they will hurt people! We have to get everyone away from him as soon as possible."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

Abby thought about it. "We'll just have to go to this Temple place with them."

"Uh, Abby, I don't know if you've noticed," Apple began. "But you will hurt yourself. You're eight months pregnant."

"Eight and a half," Abby corrected. "I'm safer there than I am here. And I forgot to tell you…they're planning on taking me anyway."

"What?!"

"Ben said take the pregnant girl too," Abby shrugged. "I've got no choice. You coming?"

Apple sighed and bit her lip. "You're not going alone."

_15-year-old Mattie sat at her table eating a peanut butter sandwich. Her father was gone and it seemed to her that her mom was getting used to him not being there. The kids, Daniel and Serena, barely remembered him so they were fine too, in fact, they were having a good time at a friend's birthday party._

_Suddenly there was a thump from the floor above her. Concerned, she walked up the stairs to her mother's room. "Mom?"_

_She pushed open the door and looked around slowly. There was her closet, half open, her desk, covered in art supplies, and her bed, un-made._

_But right in the middle of the floor was her blue-faced mother. She had a jump rope tied around her neck and the fan was going right above her. Mattie rushed to her side and checked her pulse. None._

"_If you can hurt yourself, Mom, then I can too," she whispered shakily with tears running down her face. She grabbed scissors off the desk and grimaced as she pressed the blade against her wrist._

Mattie, Jack, Kate, Simone, and two other guys from the freighter were walking. Sayid, Juliet, and George Torres had come out and forced all three of them to drop their guns.

"Hey," Mattie stared up in the sky at a flare. "Is that one of your people?"

"It must be," Simone shrugged. "It's got to be Frank or Nat."

"Why don't we go find out?" George suggested. Before anyone could say anything, another flare went off in a different place.

"That's got to be the other one," Simone said.

"Well, here's an idea," Mattie said. "How about we split up, and half of us go to that one, and half of us go to that one? I'm sure we'll meet up somewhere."

"No," Jack shook his head. "We can't split up any more than we already have. This is our chance of rescue and we all have to stick together."

"Right, of course," Mattie agreed. She fell to the back of the procession as they walked to the first flare they saw. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking," George said. "And I'm not going to try and talk you out of it. You're right. The other person could be in as much danger as this person. I'm coming with you."

Mattie was speechless for a moment. "Well, I suppose it's better than going alone."

She slipped through the bushes and ran with George at her side. "They're bound to notice we're gone soon," George said, sprinting to the jungle.

"Yeah," Mattie said. "But Jack won't come looking for us until they get whoever sent that other flare. I think we're good."

After ten minutes of tiring running, they stopped and had some water at a spring. "We're not far now, are we?"

"I don't think so," George answered. "I'd say another 20 minutes walk, or ten minutes run."

"Oh, hell no," Mattie panted. "I haven't done so much running since…well…I don't think I've ever done so much running!" She pulled her black hair-that was now somewhat light brown near the top-into a ponytail.

George laughed. "Well, of course it isn't easy, why would it be?"

Now it was Mattie's turn to laugh. "Touché. Ready to keep going?"

"Yup," George answered. He pushed himself off of the ground and held out a hand to help Mattie up.

They walked for about 15 minutes before George threw out a hand to stop Mattie. Before she could even question what that was about, John Locke walked out of the bushes with his group of people behind him. There were two unfamiliar faces; two girls, one with red hair and freckles and one with curly black hair.

"What brings you two here?"

**There's a plot that will keep me busy for a while. It seems George and Mattie have either joined or are held hostage by Team Locke, and Abby, Apple, and Lilly are headed out to the Temple! What about the other people…?**

**And maybe a little George/Mattie pairing? I don't know. They're both loners.**

**You can go ahead and vote on who you think should get the next flashback. I'm having trouble deciding myself.**


	4. Similar Stories

**Okay, the majority of the votes said a Team Locke person, or Abby or Apple. I think, since she was the first submitted (besides Mattie), this chapter is an Abby flashback.**

Lilly edged towards the sleeping John Locke. She was trying to get a knife out of his pocket, but the ropes were holding her back. Ben was watching from about ten feet away.

"Remind me again why I don't cut you free too," Lilly said through her attempts.

"Because I have to stay with him," Ben nodded towards Locke. "Don't ask why, its island business, you wouldn't understand."

Lilly fought the temptation to roll her eyes. She'd been on the island for three years, she'd understand. She was going to bring this up, but she was interrupted when two pairs of feet appeared between her and Locke.

"Looking for this?" Abby held up a knife in her hand and smiled.

_Abby paced the room, back and forth, and she had been for the last 20 minutes. Carlisle said he'd be there at five. She looked at the clock. 5:15._

_She was a doctor; she knew that the pregnancy test was pretty accurate. But somehow, she couldn't believe it. The door opened._

"_Hey," Carlisle said as he hung his coat up on a hanger placed near the entryway. "Sorry I'm late; a patient was asking a lot of questions, you know how they are."_

"_Yeah," Abby said absentmindedly. " Carlisle …"_

"_What's wrong?" Carlisle asked, placing a comforting arm around her as they both sat down on a couch._

_Abby opened her mouth to say something, but found she couldn't. Tears were softly running down her cheeks. It wasn't a sad thing, it was…miraculous. "I'm pregnant."_

"No trail," Hurley told Locke. "I have no idea."

"Do you?" Tina asked the tied-up Ben.

"No. I don't know why my own people would abandon me here and take two of your people," Ben answered.

"Liar," Rousseau hissed. "Where is my daughter?"

"Hey," Charlotte called. "Nat said her foot hurts a lot still, does anyone here have any medical experience?"

"Oh, what a coincidence," Tina said venomously. "The two people in our group that did know anything about being a doctor, Abby and Apple, mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night." She walked over to the girl from the freighter. "Lemme see."

"Ow, careful," Nat said as her ankle was hoist up onto a rock.

Tina didn't have a clue what she was doing. Well, that was a lie; in her health class she was taught how to recognize broken bones. "It's not broken, I know that. My best guess is it's sprained. Don't put any unnecessary pressure on it."

"That's brilliant," Nat said as Charlotte helped her up. "And I suppose being held captive by a group of people going to some place called the Barracks is going to help a sprained ankle."

"Hey, we don't need your attitude," Brad said.

"Okay, let's get going," Locke called over to them. They all exchanged looks before getting up and following Locke.

"_What makes you think I will let you marry some common doctor?"_

"_I love him, Dad," Abby pleaded desperately._

"_Ridiculous," Charles Widmore said. "You cannot love him. You met him not many months ago. He is not worthy of you."_

"_I didn't come here for your permission," Abby said, temper getting the better of her. "I came here to tell you I want to marry him, and that I'm pregnant with his baby."_

"_What?" Charles questioned. "The second it is born, you must get rid of it!"_

"_No!" Abby stood up and looked her father in the eye. "We're going to be together, I'm going to have my baby, and we're going to live a happy life without you!"_

"_Not if I have anything to say about it!" Charles said, slamming his fist on his desk before his daughter stormed out of the building._

Derek, Edward, and David laughed. Rocco grinned proudly. Desmond looked annoyed. "Look brother, I told all of ya, I can't predict the future. I only saw flashes of it, and they all stopped once Charlie died."

"Well if you can't see if Rocco's gonna start a freak show starring the Others," David said. "Can you see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?"

"What?"

"Wrong!" Rocco said. "Because there's cinnamon swirls in every bite!"

"What are you-never mind," Desmond muttered.

"It's a commercial, brother," Derek said. "For a cereal. It's actually pretty good. You're probably used to the Dharma cereal, but, hey, David, want to go play soccer?"

"Sure," David said and they both got up and left.

"Well, that wasn't random or anything," Edward stated.

"I'm gonna…leave…" Desmond said.

"Hey Des," Noe said. "Whoa, what'd you guys do to him? He looks pretty steamed."

"It was Rocco!" Edward exclaimed before running away.

Rocco looked around, alarmed. "Uh…well, you see…I was…bye!"

Noe stood there, now alone. She shook her head and muttered "Boys," before turning around and going to find something to do.

"_And he was so angry, and I don't know what to do, and help me, Penny," Abby said to her sister desperately._

"_I know what you mean," Penny nodded understandingly. "You should've heard Desmond talk about him. I'm pretty sure he mentioned us as a couple and Dad wasn't too happy."_

"_I never got to meet him," Abby said._

"_Yeah, I know," Penny said sadly. "But, Abby, we were both in love with a guy who Dad doesn't like. He can't possibly defy both of us."_

"_I'm scared, Pen," Abby said quietly. "I don't know what he was planning on doing. I think I'm going to leave the country with Carlisle. Dad won't care enough to track us down."_

"_Whatever you do, I'll support you," Penny told her. "Don't worry, Abby, we'll get through this together. I promise."_

"Are you okay?" Apple asked Abby.

"I'm fine," Abby assured her.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Alex asked excitedly.

"I don't know, I never got the chance to find out," Abby said.

"Why?" Karl questioned.

"Boy, is this 20 questions or something?" Abby said impatiently. "I was on the run with my fiancée. Happy?"

"On the run?" Apple gasped. "Like, you broke the law, on the run?"

"No," Lilly interrupted. "Her father didn't want them to be together." She looked at Alex and Karl. "They wouldn't listen. They took matters into their own hands. They defied him and were together anyway."

Alex and Karl glanced at each other. The story sounded familiar. "How do you know all this stuff about us?" Apple asked.

"We have files on you guys," Lilly answered.

"And this place that we're going," Apple continued. "You call it the Temple. Is this where you get all your information or something?"

"No," Lilly said. "This is the place that harnesses the island's power. It's the heart."

Alex and Karl hung back by Abby, not listening to the conversation ahead of them. "What happened to him? Your fiancée?"

"My dad killed him," Abby said simply.

"_Carlisle," Abby said urgently, walking through the door. "Listen, we have to go, now, I was at work and-."_

_She froze. "Hey, hey, it's okay," one of them said reassuringly. They were the same men who tried to take her back before. "You need to come back. Your father's worried."_

_Abby looked around. "Where is he?!"_

"_Come here," another of her father's men approached her. She stepped back._

"_Stay away from me!" Abby shrieked._

"_No security to call now, eh?" he grinned evilly._

_But she wasn't paying attention. When he had moved, he had opened a hole in the wall the men were forming. And she saw Carlisle._

"_No!" She fell to the ground in front of his lifeless body. "You-you killed him!"_

_She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch me!" She kicked the man's ankle as hard as she could; he fell over, and she sped out the door._

"Why are you here?" Danny asked the two newcomers.

"We saw the flares, and Jack wanted to go to the other one first," Mattie explained. "But we thought they might both be hurt, so we were going to come out here to find her." Mattie nodded towards Natalie.

"So why can't you let us go?" George said.

"We don't make the calls here," Corey shrugged. "Locke is keeping those two hostages because he thinks they're here to kill us…but you're one of us. He knows better."

"He probably thinks Jack sent us or something," Mattie muttered. "Wouldn't put it past him. He's a lunatic, why'd you come out here?"

"Mattie," George said warningly. "Corey, Danny, listen. Jack told us that one of them said that rescuing us wasn't their 'primary objective' or whatever."

Danny and Corey exchanged a look. "That's just another way of saying they're not here to rescue us, they're here to kill us."

"Not really," Mattie said. "Just that they have to do something first. Anyway, the guy who said that wasn't really what I'd call 'sane', so I d-,"

"We should tell Locke," Corey interrupted.

"I agree," Danny said quickly.

**Who's the next flashback? Don't forget to vote!**


	5. Torn Away

'**Kay so I came up with this new idea. The person who had the previous chapter's flashback gets to choose who gets the next one. Now, this one is a combination between Elyad's vote and Charlotte Lewis's. They both said a freighter person, so, I chose one that has yet to be introduced. Everyone, this is Deacon West's flashback.**

"_Deacon, you have a letter in the mail," Deacon's mother called from the kitchen. Deacon sat up straighter from where he was lounging casually on the couch. The one day he didn't go and get the mail, he got a letter. He pushed himself off of the couch and sprinted to the kitchen, almost sliding across the polished wood floor._

_Hands shaking, he lifted up the envelope and tore it open. He unfolded the letter within and read every line carefully._

"_Who's it from?" his mother asked. When Deacon didn't answer, she asked again._

"_St-Stanford," Deacon said shakily, reading the letter again to make sure he didn't mistake the words._

"_Really? What does it say?" his mother asked curiously. "Deacon?"_

"_I'm accepted."_

Deacon sat on the deck of the Freighter, taking a break from work. He was near the side, in the shadows, and staring out into the ocean. He was concerned for his friends who had gone to the island. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps behind him.

Deacon stood up straight when he saw Captain Gault standing there. "West, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yes, sir?" he asked monotonously. He and Gault got along fairly well, but he was the captain, and he was just a crew member.

Gault nodded his head, indicating that he wished for Deacon to come with him. He followed him. They were both walking along the side of the boat before Gault stopped in the very back of the boat where the sun wasn't in their eyes. "Beautiful view, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Deacon," Gault said seriously. "I'm very concerned."

"Why?"

"Keamy," Gault answered. "I don't think he's going to stick to plan. I need you to do something for me."

"What is that sir?"

"When that helicopter comes back again to pick the mercenaries up," Gault began. "I would like you to go to the island, and keep an eye on Keamy."

_Deacon couldn't be happier. He was accepted into Stanford, and with that, he could go so far. He had his letter in his hands when there was a knock on the door. "Yes?"_

"_Deacon," his mother answered timidly. "Your father and I would like to speak to you, please. Come out here."_

_Concerned, Deacon walked out into the cramped little hallway in their cramped little excuse for a house. "What is it?"_

"_We know you're excited," Mr. West said, placing a hand on Deacon's shoulder. "And you have every right to be. But we're worried. We're worried because we're not sure if we can afford it."_

_Deacon's heart fell. The thought crossed his mind more than once, but he reassured himself that something would happen, and things would go right. "But…then…"_

"_Deacon, listen," Mrs. West interrupted softly. "You will go. And we will pay. We will pay as long as we possibly can, and hopefully, we can support you until you graduate. But, Deacon, please, don't get your hopes up. Things aren't looking good for us right now."_

Noe, Edward, David, Derek, and Rocco all went with Desmond to the helicopter, despite Juliet's protests. They wanted to see for themselves that they had the chance of rescue, and they wanted to meet some of those who had come.

"Hey," Derek greeted casually. "Where're George, Sayid, Kate and Mattie?"

"They left," Jack growled. "George and Mattie just wandered off, and I have no idea where they are now."

"Well, we should go looking for them, then!" Noe exclaimed, and looked around for support.

"What about Sayid and Kate?" Edward asked, ignoring Noe.

"They went to talk to Locke," Jack told them.

Rocco, bored of the conversation, left to go speak to the girl from the freighter. "Hey. I'm Rocco, who're you?"

She turned towards him. "I'm Simone."

He turned his attention to the helicopter she was standing by. "Nice ride."

Simone laughed. "Oh yeah, it was a great comfort coming out here. We all ended up bailing, and now, your friends have to go find ours."

_Deacon had to stay at Stanford. He just had to. There was no way he could leave, not now, when he had made so much progress._

_He tried to come up with ways to get earn money, but none were good enough. He couldn't get another job; he barely had time as it was. He couldn't ask his parents, they were giving him all they could._

_There was nothing. Deacon would have to leave Stanford, unless he had another idea before it was too late. He glanced up at the clock. His shift at the bank was in ten minutes, he had to go._

_And then it hit him._

_The bank._

"So, let me get this straight," Rocco said. "You're not here to kill us."

"No," Simone answered.

"But are you not never possibly ever not maybe not never not here to not kill us?"

"What?"

"I think what Rocco's trying to say here is," David began. "If you're here to kill us, don't just shoot us in the face or whatever. We want to die a cool death, right Rocco?"

"Yeah!"

"A cool death?" Simone questioned. The two boys nodded. "Yeah, whatever."

"This isn't something to joke about!" David exclaimed. "You gotta, like, tie our hands and feet together and hang our heads in between the helicopter blades."

Simone looked disgusted at the thought of it and Rocco laughed. "That would be cool. But nothing beats Mr. Eko's death."

"How'd Mr. Eko die?" Simone asked curiously, already wishing she hadn't.

"He was thrown against a couple of trees by a giant cloud of black smoke," David said casually. Simone looked alarmed and looked as if she was about to ask more.

"Hey," Noe interrupted warningly, throwing a glance at Simone. "Watch what you're telling these people."

Rocco frowned. "Why? C'mon, Noe, it's not like they're here to kill us or something."

_Deacon sat in a cushiony chair, leaning back and arms folded. The bank was rather empty that day, but Deacon couldn't leave during his shift, or he would've a long time ago._

"_Hey, man, can I talk to you?" Sam, someone with a higher position than him at the bank, said._

"_Yeah, what is it?" Deacon asked, bored and impatient._

_Sam pulled a chair so he faced Deacon and folded his hands as he sat down. "We're on to you, Deacon. We know what you're up to."_

_Attention peaked a bit more, Deacon looked Sam in the eye. "What are you talking about?"_

_"C'mon man, we're not stupid," Sam almost smiled. "But we are incredibly nice. You have a week to return all of the money, and no legal actions will have to take place. We clear?"_

_Deacon glared at Sam's kind, but forceful expression. He stared him right in the eye and said clearly. "You can't prove anything."_

_Sam shrugged and shook his head slightly. "Fine. Whatever, Deacon, we can't prove anything. Just think about what I said, then. You can go home now if you'd like."_

_Deacon almost ran out of the bank, knowing he'd have to be gone without a trace before a week went by._

"We have room for two more on the helicopter," Frank announced. Sayid and Desmond waited patiently by its side for the other two people.

Everyone looked around at each other, waiting to see if they wanted to go. "I'll go," Noe shrugged and walked over next to Desmond.

"Anyone else?" Frank asked. He looked at Dan, Charlotte, and Nat. "Seat's yours if you want it."

"With all the fun I'm having here?" Charlotte questioned sarcastically. "No."

"I'd honestly rather stay here," Nat said with a slight shrug. She would rather stay with the survivors then those mercenaries on the ship. They all turned to Daniel.

"I-er, I think I should stay here with-with these two," Dan answered, nodding to the two girls next to him and placing a hand on Nat's shoulder.

"No takers, then?" Frank said. "Last chance, guys." He directed to the survivors.

"Er…fine, I'll go," Derek said uneasily.

"Perfect," Frank said. "You ready? Let's go." They all boarded the helicopter and, moments later, they were in the air.

"_Hello, sir," a dark-haired girl with an English accent said. "Can I get your name, please?"_

"_West, Deacon West," he told her._

_"Excellent," she said. "Thank you and enjoy the ride."_

_Deacon shrugged and dragged his feet aboard the freighter. His dreams of graduating were brutally killed, and now, somehow, he ended up in Fiji, boarding a freighter as a crewmember._

"_Ah, there he is," Gault greeted, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Martin, this is the guy I found, last minute, to help in case of repairs. West, this is Keamy."_

"_Hello," Deacon said, stretching his hand out for Keamy to shake._

_Keamy just glared at him, not even throwing a glance at his hand. "Gault, you and I both have more important stuff to do."_

"So, what, they just, upped and left in the middle of the night?" Kate questioned. Valeria nodded.

"We're not sure if Lilly took them all or what," she told her. "But they left no trail at all."

"You tried questioning Ben?" Kate asked.

"Yes, Locke, and Corey, and Danny too," Valeria said. "All useless. He said nothing."

Kate thought for a moment. "I want to see the freighter guy. Miles. I want to talk to him."

"Why?" Valeria sneered. Locke wanted Kate to stay with her until she went back.

"Because I think he might know something that we don't," Kate lied, pushing herself off of a chair. "Do you know where he is? Will you help me?"

"No," Valeria answered quickly. "And I hope you know I'll be telling Locke about this, Kate. Is that why you're still here?"

Kate didn't answer. She just walked towards the door. "If you won't help, then I'll go ask Sawyer."

"Leave him out of this!" Valeria shouted, but Kate had already gone out the door, leaving a very confused Brad standing in the doorway.

"What is it?" Valeria asked angrily.

"Locke, um, wants to talk to you," Brad told her, pointing in the direction of Locke's house.

"Thanks," she muttered, patting him on the back before walking over to Locke's, and Brad stood bewildered in the yard.

**If Valeria didn't like Sawyer and Brad didn't like Claire, I'd pair them up. But anyway, HeroineInducedPanic's turn to tell us who gets the next flashback. And sorry about the lack of Team Lockedness, but I had to get that dumb helicopter off the island.**


	6. Peaceful Living

**HeroineInducedPanic chose for us Rocco to have the next flashback, because he's just so gosh darn funny. And I want to say to Qawsed41880 right now that I am terrible with baseball terms, and I know what drafting is, it's just I'm not sure if I can write it.**

"_Can you believe we've been dating for 5 years, ever since high school?" Carly smiled at her boyfriend._

"_Yeah, I know," Rocco said, taking her hand as they walked across an old stone bridge in a nice park. "5 years ago today was our first date. I guess a lot of important things happen on this day."_

"_What makes you say that?" Carly asked curiously._

_Rocco stopped in his tracks and turned to face Carly. He sank down to his knees and pulled out a minute box from his pocket. "Carly, will you marry me?"_

_Carly's jaw dropped and tears formed in her eyes. She shakily grabbed the little box and Rocco placed the ring on her left hand. "Yes. Yes, Rocco, I will marry you."_

Abby stumbled. Karl instinctively grabbed onto her shoulders. "You okay?" he asked.

She didn't answer. Instead, a wide smile spread across her face. "Hey, what's the hold up back there? We're, like, twenty minutes away!" Lilly called impatiently.

"Come here," Abby beckoned to Karl, Alex, and Apple, ignoring Lilly. "It's…it's kicking! Feel that?" She grabbed Apple's hand and set it on her stomach.

Apple smiled. "Yeah! Wow…that's cool!"

Even Lilly had wandered her way over curiously. "You done?"

They all nodded and wandered on, chatting happily before they heard whispers around them. They all looked around nervously before Alex yelled, "Hey, it's just us! We have to get to the Temple, we're in danger!"

The whispers stopped. Lilly smiled at her and glanced at the two stunned girls. "Only she and Ben can do that…and occasionally me and Richard. Come on."

As they kept walking they would see people walking around. They passed through a village. "It's almost medieval, isn't it?" Apple questioned wondrously.

"We'll find you two a house together," Lilly told them as they passed a door leading down to the ground with four guards standing around it. "What's in there?" Abby asked Karl and Apple listened in.

"That's the Temple."

_Rocco removed his cap and stared up into the sun. He and a couple of his friends were playing a casual game of baseball. His team had won; of course, they had the one man who was drafted to the Dodgers. And they were even one man down._

"_Carly! What are you doing here?" Rocco asked his wife after a quick hug._

"_I wanted to see you," Carly smiled at him. Rocco noticed something wrong, though._

"_What's up, hon?" Rocco asked concernedly._

_Carly bit her lip and gripped his hands. "Rocco, I'm pregnant!"_

"Ah, man, look what you did!"

"It's not my fault! It, like, exploded, or something."

The three boys were arguing happily. David and Rocco had been kicking around a mango on the beach before David leapt up and landed on the fruit to see what would happen. It turns out that the skin burst and the juice and pulp flew up all over his face.

"I got mango in my eye!"

"That's your problem," Rocco scowled. "I'm bored. What are we going to do?"

"Let's go talk to the freighter…people," Edward suggested and pointed over to where Simone and Nat were sitting. The three of them wandered over to where the girls were resting in the shade.

"No, we're not here to kill you," Simone said before any of them could say anything.

"That may be true," Rocco said. "But are not ever going to no-,"

He was interrupted when Simone threw sand up at him. "Ah! Sand in my eye!"

"Now you know how I feel," David said defiantly, folding his arms.

"You both talk too much," Edward commented to his companions.

"Tell me about it," Nat muttered. "I always think boys talk too much. But not you…you agree with me." Nat looked at him inquisitively.

"Yes, well," Edward said, looking nervous. "I…I just have a sore throat. And it hurts when I talk. You girls always think guys talk too much. We're not the ones who talk on the phone for hours on end about boys and clothes."

David and Rocco hi-fived each other. "You're going to need some penicillin for that burn!" David shouted. Edward looked relieved, as if he had taken that situation very well.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

"C'mon, Des, it's okay, they're just going to take you to the sick bay," Noe said soothingly.

"N-no! Who are you? How did I get here?" Desmond asked frantically. Noe and Derek exchanged extremely hopeless looks.

"Desmond, remember, you just came here from a helicopter, from the island," Derek said.

"What island? How do you know my name?" Desmond questioned. He was shaking like a cold puppy.

"We can take him from here," one of the men from the freighter said.

"I don't think so," Noe protested. "Desmond's my friend, I want to be with him when you tell me what the hell is wrong with him."

"Deacon, take care of these people, please," the man said exasperatedly.

"Come with me, I'll show you where you can stay," Deacon said, and beckoned them below deck.

"No," Noe said defiantly.

"Look, we'll go and see Desmond later, okay?" Derek muttered. "Let's just get you to your room, and get settled in, then we can go check on him when they let us."

Noe looked defeated but followed Deacon down nonetheless. "Hey Kev," he said casually to one of the deckhands that happened to be passing by.

Derek froze and flung his arm out to stop Noe. "Did you see him?"

"Who, the deckhand?" Noe asked and Derek nodded vigorously. "What about him."

"That was Michael!"

_Rocco skidded into the hospital. He felt rather out of place with dirt and grass stains all over his clothes while the nurses and doctors all had purely clean white clothes. But he had no time to change._

"_I'm looking for my wife, she's in labor," Rocco said to the first person at a desk he saw. "Carly Weston."_

"_Try two floors up, and ask a doctor around there," the person said lazily. Any other day Rocco would have told her off for being such an ignorant receptionist, but he had to be with his wife._

_Rocco jammed his finger against the elevator button, which turned orange. He stood there for a while, before getting impatient and looking up to see what floor it was on. Six._

_Rocco sighed warily and tore up the stairs, skipping every other step and almost running straight into a man with a sling on._

_He made it to the second floor and stared around for a doctor to ask where Carly could be. But before he could find anyone, Carly's voice came from a nearby room, calling his name._

"_Congratulations, Mr. Weston," a doctor said with a smile. "You have a son."_

Kate, Claire, Valeria, and Corey were out in the sunlight hanging clothes out to dry. "This yours?" Tina asked, holding up a grey shirt.

"No, that's mine," Kate told her.

"Hey, where's Locke?" Corey asked.

"I'm pretty sure he was trying to get answers out of that Miles guy," Kate shrugged. Valeria glared at her. Aaron started to cry.

"Hey, can one of you get Aaron for me?" Claire asked with a handful of clothes. The three girls glanced around at each other; hoping one of the others would do it. None of them wanted to make him cry even more. "Hello, there's a crying baby in our midst, little help?"

"Here, I can take that," Valeria offered and took the clothes out of her hands. "And you can tend to your son."

Claire laughed. "Honestly, you act as if you've never seen a baby before."

"Well, I don't want to…mess up, or something," Valeria said. "I barely know how to hold a child, let alone how to comfort one."

They all laughed, which was watched far off by three guys. "She's so beautiful," Brad muttered, not intending for Danny or Sawyer to hear him.

"Yeah," Danny agreed, not really knowing who 'she' is.

"Yeah," Sawyer repeated. They all suddenly became aware of what they all had just said and stared around at each other, all simultaneously asking 'who?'

"You said it first," Danny said and pointed at Brad. "Who?"

"Uh, Claire," Brad said softly. "Who were you talking about?"

Danny glanced at the two of them who were waiting for his answer. "I was…talking…about Corey." He smiled and gazed back at her.

"Ah, come on, man," Sawyer said. "Isn't it obvious to you that she has eyes only for Muhammad?"

"Don't remind me," Danny grumbled angrily and folded his arms. "Isn't it obvious Kate only has eyes for Jack?"

"I wasn't talking about Freckles," Sawyer said.

"_What?" _they both shouted. The four girls looked their way curiously. "S-sorry!" They turned away. "You meant…?"

"Valley girl over there," Sawyer said, nodding slightly in the girls' direction.

Before Danny or Brad could respond, Tina walked over to them. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Nothing!" They all yelled at the same time very quickly. They exchanged glances. Brad spoke for them. "Uh, nothing. Nothing is up. All is good."

Tina gave them a weird, suspicious look. "Whatever."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Why are we still here?"

"Because I don't want you two getting hurt," Locke told Mattie and George.

"The only way we'd get hurt is here with you," Mattie said. "Just let us go back! We want to go back to Jack's camp."

"Want to play backgammon?" Locke offered.

"What?!"

"Backgammon," Locke said, sweeping his hand over the game. "Do you know how to play?"

"Look, John," George said over Mattie's confused glare. "We really appreciate your offer, but I think it would be best if we both went back to the beach."

"I'm only doing this for your best interest," Locke told them with a shrug.

"So can we go back?"

"You will take Kate tomorrow morning and leave," Locke informed them.

"Thank you," George nodded at him and both he and Mattie got up. "Nothing to it."

Mattie pushed him playfully in the arm. "Let's just go."

**Qawsed41880, review and tell me who gets the next flashback. Everyone else, just review.**


	7. Misunderstood

**I've been thinking for a long time about who is going to be killed off first. And I couldn't decide. So I did the only fair thing and drew names out of a box. And now I know who and how. But it won't be this chapter.**

**And I'm really focusing on the Temple right now…seems like fun. So I'm going to take some of the Team Jack-ers and some of the Team Locke-ers and bring them to the Temple…just got to figure out how.**

Apple stared around this little village. Aldo, one of the people that lives there, had given her directions to where she could get some breakfast. But Apple wasn't that good with directions, and was still trying to find her way around.

She was walking past one of the houses when she overheard an argument. She recognized one of the voices-Lilly.

"I can't just sit here and hope that he'll be okay!"

"You have to follow his orders, and you told me he said not to come back," the other person said. "Ben will give out orders when he can, he said so. We have someone stationed in the look-out tower 24/7, there's no possible way we can miss him."

"But I have to know, Richard," Lilly said shakily. "I'm taking one of the Dharma buses and going back down there."

"No, you're not," Richard ordered. "Lilly, I know this is hard, but you brought two of them up here. You have to take care of them. Do whatever you were going to do to Claire to Abigail."

Apple was alarmed. What were they going to do to Claire, and more importantly, what was going to happen to Abby? Forgetting about breakfast, Apple turned around and ran back to the house that she and Abby were staying at.

"Hey Apple, I thought you were going to get something to eat," Abby greeted casually. Noticing her panicked expression, she added, "What's wrong?"

"We have to get out of here," Apple said urgently. "Right now."

_Noe and her friend Caitlyn were walking around at their high school gymnasium where the graduation dance was held._

"_So we'll be going our separate ways now, huh?" Noe questioned._

"_Don't act all sad, this is a happy time," Caitlyn told her. "We survived high school! We can survive anything!"_

"_Yeah, that'll come in handy when we're both stuck on deserted islands, right?" Noe laughed._

"_Exactly," Caitlyn nodded._

_Noe looked around at all the people she had come to know. "It's just going to be hard to leave everyone I know here and go off."_

"_That's why they have this dance, Noe," Caitlyn told her. "To say our last goodbyes."_

"_Hey," someone interrupted. They both looked over. It was a cute boy from their grade that Noe had liked for a very long time. "You, uh, you want to dance?"_

_Caitlyn raised her eyebrows at Noe, who kept herself from laughing. "Sure, okay." Caitlyn was right. She couldn't spend her last moments with her friends moping that it was the last moments with her friends._

"Did I say stop?" Deacon questioned as both Derek and Noe froze in their spot, gaping at the deckhand who just passed.

"Who was that?" Noe demanded, pointing where the deckhand had just turned.

"Not that it's any of your business, but he's one of the deckhands here," Deacon answered. "Name's Kevin Johnson. Why?"

Derek shot Noe a look that clearly said don't tell the truth. "Uh, he, looked like someone I know. From back home," Noe lied.

Deacon gave her very deep look that was somewhat a mix of suspicion and confusion, Noe couldn't tell.

"We'll tell Sayid as soon as we can," Derek muttered under his breath when they started walking again. "And we can all confront him, together."

Noe nodded but remained silent. She was beginning to wonder what was up with these freighter people-they seemed all too calm about Desmond's situation, and now one of their fellow survivors, who had killed two of their own people, was on their same boat. Something wasn't right, and sooner or later they'd all need answers.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Don't you think it's about time someone went looking for them?" Tina asked.

"Well, yeah, but Locke says-," Valeria began.

"Since when have you cared what anyone says?" Tina interrupted, folding her arms defiantly. Valeria was silent. A grin spread across Tina's face. "You're worried. You don't want to leave Sawyer!"

"I-that's…" Valeria stammered.

"True?" Tina questioned. "Well, as much as I'm quite concerned for the safety of Sawyer, I think they'll be safe here with Locke. I, however, want to know what happened to our disappearing friends, Abby and Apple."

Valeria couldn't argue with that. She had no idea what happened to Abby and Apple and was concerned for them both. "I'm going whether you come or not," Tina told her.

"No, I'll come," Valeria said, rising out of her chair. "I can't just let you go on your own."

"I'm not a kid!" Tina exclaimed. "I'm fourteen, and guess what? I've survived on this island as long as you have."

Valeria ignored this statement and simply said, "So we'll get going tomorrow morning, then?"

"Let's go now," Tina suggested and made her way to the door.

"Or now," Valeria muttered unenthusiastically, following her towards the door. Tina smirked. She figured she'd tell Valeria what she overheard the previous day when it was too late to turn back.

_Noe sat on the steps of her school, waiting for her parents to pick her up. Her car was in the shop, so her mom was going to take her and Caitlyn home from this last day of school._

_She'd been waiting for ten minutes before she was concerned. Usually her parents were strict about being perfectly on time. Fortunately, her phone rang. It was Caitlyn._

"_Hello?"_

"_Uh, Noe? Where are you?"_

"_Where am I?" Noe questioned. "Where are you, and my parents?"_

"_I'm at your parents' car, waiting for you," Caitlyn told her._

"_What? Where?" Noe asked, standing up and glancing around. "Wait…you're at the front exit, aren't you?"_

"_Yeah, and you're not, are you?" Caitlyn laughed slightly. "Alright, well, your dad says that we'll come to you, so it'll take less time. Be right there."_

_Noe hung up and resumed waiting. She heard a car to her left, but it wasn't her parentss. Then it occurred to her that a car coming from the front exit of her school would be coming from the right, so she turned her gaze that way, and saw the same car that she had seen before that had come from the left._

_Smashed into the hood of her parents' car._

Edward, David, and Rocco were all sitting by a fire that was occasionally emitting loud popping noises. "What_ is_ that?" someone behind them asked.

"Firecrackers," they answered simultaneously without turning around.

"Where'd you get firecrackers on an island?" Simone questioned skeptically.

"You know, that's a good question," Rocco said. "Why didn't I think to ask that?"

"Because you're not smart enough?" David suggested jokingly. Rocco looked shocked. He was speechless.

"That's not an answer," Simone said. She folded her arms and waited. "Where did you get firecrackers on an island?"

"Chill," David said. Edward listened curiously and Rocco, thought looking hurt, also listened. "I found them in a shack up in the mountains on one of the first days here."

"A shack?" Simone asked. David nodded. "Take me there."

"I want to go!" Edward piped up immediately.

"Well, okay," David said, standing up. "I'm running out of gum anyway. But it's always in a different place, so it could take a while. You coming?" He asked Rocco.

He was silent, staring at the ground. "Come on, you know you want to," Edward smiled, nudging him on the shoulder slightly. "Stand up, let's go."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Dan, if there's one person on this island that can do it, it's you," Nat said comfortingly as the trio took a break at a small creek. He smiled at her encouragement.

"Should we get going?" Charlotte suggested irritably.

"Yeah, let's go," Dan said, offering a hand to help Nat up. Suddenly, the bushes rustled and Charlotte whipped out her gun.

"I'll get some water for the-oh," Mattie put her hands up. She was holding three canteens. "Don't shoot me. I come from Locke's camp with George and Kate."

"Is Miles with you?" Charlotte asked, knowing that she had been traded for Miles.

"No," Mattie answered. "They've got him. But he's fine, though. But I thought you two were with Jack at the beach."

"Jack wanted to communicate with your friends on the boat," Nat replied. "But it ran out of juice, so we're just going to get spare batteries from the packs we tossed out of the chopper."

"So what about that bag?" Mattie questioned suspiciously, nodding towards the bag Daniel was carrying. "What's in it?"

"Go ahead and show her, Dan," Nat said casually, glancing at Charlotte, who gave a nod that was unnoticed by Mattie. She was already opening the bag.

"What're the gas masks for, the-," Mattie was knocked over the head by Charlotte.

"Mattie?" Kate's voice called from somewhere not far away. "What's going on?"

The three people from the freighter glanced at each other. "Let's go." They ran off, leaving Mattie's unconscious body lying near the stream.

_Noe sat in a visitor chair at the hospital. She was bent over and fiddling her thumbs nervously when a doctor came over and talked to her._

"_Noelia?" she asked._

"_Yes?" Noe said immediately, looking up at the doctor. "How are they?"_

"_I'm one of the doctors who was called to the ER for you parents' accidents," she introduced herself. "And us doctors…did all we could. I'm afraid that neither of your parents survived the accident."  
Noe didn't know how to react. Tears were already spilling out of her eyes. "Wh-what about...what about C-Caitlyn?"_

"_I'm afraid that she didn't survive either," the doctor said solemnly. "Would you like to see them?"_

_Noe bit her lip and shook her head, sobbing. This was supposed to be a good time, hadn't Caitlyn said that? But there was no celebrating now. Her parents were gone. Her best friend of five years-gone. What did she have left?_

_Not knowing if the doctor was still there or not, she came to a realization. "I-I was at the wrong exit. I made them come over."_

Noe had left the room that she was staying in to investigate. Desmond was now better, his memory back, and Derek told Sayid about Michael. That left Noe to her investigating.

She glanced into a dark room that's door was open. Curious, she pushed it open farther and stepped inside. A folder on a table caught her eye.

Cautiously, Noe moved closer. It looked as if it belonged in the file cabinet that was beside her. She wondered who had carelessly leave something like that out, deciding that it must not be too important, so she picked it up and read it.

**THE TEMPEST**

**Purpose: chemical weapons research**

**Produces, stores, and releases toxic gases. May be used as a defense. Lock down and prepare gases for own use after Linus is captured.**

Noe ran her hand over the words, noticing the design of the paper it was on. It was grayish-blue in color, with a dark gray symbol shaped as an octagon with a picture of a wave in the middle. Below the wave, in capital letters, was the word DHARMA.

And the realization crashed. Heart racing, she dropped the file and ran out of the room to tell Derek, Sayid, and Desmond, because all of their friends on the island are in grave danger.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Mattie! Mattie, can you hear me? Wake up!" Kate was saying. She splashed water on the creek onto Mattie's face, and she started to stir.

"What happened?" Mattie said with a slur in her voice. She sat up and looked around dizzily.

"We don't know," George answered. "We heard talking, and then running, so we came over, and you were unconscious."

Mattie swore under her breath. "Those freaks from the freighter knocked me out. Can you track?"

"Well, I can try," George answered, sounding confused. "But…you're not seriously thinking about going after them, are you? We should get Jack."

"And waste more time?" Mattie questioned. "No. Jack doesn't know what he's doing, let's go ourselves." She pushed herself off the ground and swayed on the spot for a second.

"Whoa, you okay there?" Kate asked, putting a hand on her back to keep her steady.

"How about I go find them, and you and Kate go back to see Jack about that head injury?" George suggested. "Look, he's a doctor, and he knows what he's doing about that."

"How about we stop talking before they get even farther away?" Mattie said bitterly and started moving towards where she could see a plain trail.

"_Come off it, Noe, it's not your fault," said Noe's friend, Jayme._

"_It is!" Noe exclaimed, fresh tears forming in her eyes._

"_No, it's not," Jayme argued._

"_I went to the wrong exit!" Noe told her. "I let them come over to where I was! I could've stopped it!"_

"_So, what?" Jayme said sarcastically. "You were supposed to know that they'd crash? Noe, you never could've seen that coming."_

"_But I should've," Noe muttered. "I assumed that everything would be alright. I should have known that anything could happen."_

"_Caitlyn and your mom weren't wearing their seatbelts, Noe," Jayme said, sitting on the arm of the chair and putting her arm on Noe's shoulder. "And your dad was driving, he didn't stop. If anything, it was their fault."_

"_Don't say that!" Noe yelled. "If it's not my fault, then I wouldn't feel so guilty!"_

"_You just want to blame it on yourself," Jayme said quietly. "You want to know that there was some different way it could have been, that there could've been a chance."_

_Noe stood up and turned away, fists clenched. She didn't understand. No one would._

**My character's so evil. But someone had to go into a spiraling depression, and I thought, why not have it be the character who we all love?**

**This chapter got longer than I thought. So, as far as ships are going, I'm thinking, Noe/Derek, possibly Simone/Rocco? And Arwen-Aileon gets to choose for us who has the next flashback.**


	8. Paths Cross

**Yeah, I know. I know. I didn't kill the person off yet. Big deal. And I know you hate me, but I've been having the biggest case of writer's block ever. You know I'm sorry.**

**And yes, the timing and episode order is messed up completely. Let's just ignore that fact.**

"So, do you really even know what a trail looks like?" Valeria questioned impatiently. They had been following the 'trail' for 4 hours now, and haven't found anything that would hint where Abby, Apple, Lilly, Alex, and Karl went.

"Hey, look at this," Tina said. She squatted down low and pushed a leaf out of the way.

"Tire tracks, definitely," Valeria said. She exchanged puzzled glances with Tina. "They look pretty dang fresh. Came from something big, no doubt. And whoever it was wanted to go fast."

"Can you tell if they were going that way?" Tina asked, pointing to her right. She then changed her direction and pointed to the left. "Or that way?"

"I think, um," Valeria looked closer. "I'd guess right."

"Then let's go right," Tina said and started walking again. Valeria sighed. She had no idea how a fourteen year old had so much more energy and could walk for over 4 hours without resting.

"You know we're not going to find them, right?" Valeria said irritably. "I think if the Others wanted them to be hidden, we-." She stopped when Tina held up a silencing hand. Valeria listened too, her brows furrowed. "Is that- a baby crying?"

_David walked along the busy streets of Los Angeles swiftly with his hands in his jean pockets. They weren't so busy that night, since it was the Fourth of July, everyone was at the fireworks festival. He and his roommates, however, decided to celebrate on their own._

_He made his way to the nearest ATM when he heard the unmistakable sound of a clicking gun. "Give me all your money."_

_Alarmed, but convincingly calm, David said, "I'm going to an ATM, it's pretty clear I don't have any money, isn't it?"_

"_Don't get funny with me!" The man said warningly, his hands shaking. "Where's your money?"_

"_Well, I do have some in my pockets, but I doubt you'd want me reaching in there, do you?" David said, glancing around and stalling for time. Why, why was no one passing by and seeing this?_

"_I don't want another word from you!" The man said loudly, and realizing his mistake, he lowered his tone. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time, where's your money?"_

"_How can I answer your question if you don't want-?"_

"I'm sorry, okay?!"

"They're your prisoners, you lost them, go find them!"

"I will!" Lilly shouted back to Richard angrily. How was she supposed to know that Abby and Apple would walk off in the middle of the night? Hadn't it been they who came along voluntarily?

"Good," Richard said satisfactorily. "And don't even think about going back to Ben!"

"That's where they probably went, though," Lilly argued. This was true, they had gone with Team Locke for a reason, and that's probably where they were going now. If not, she'd go to Team Jack…after a brief discussion with Ben.

"He told you not to come back," Richard said, wondering how many times he'd have to say that to the girl.

"I'm going…" Lilly said, rather like a little child being force to clean her room. She barely heard Richard say 'go to the Tempest, Ben had said they might want to go there!' as she headed towards the Dharma bus storage area and hopped in the nearest one.

Lilly drove for a while, not disobeying Richard's orders, but she wasn't going to spend forever there. And anyway, first Richard told her to go find her escaped prisoners, then he said 'they' wanted to go to the Tempest, and 'they' were the people from the freighter.

Amidst her thoughts, Lilly almost didn't see that she was about to hit someone. She slammed on the brakes.

She didn't know who they were. They weren't the survivors, for sure, she'd have recognized them. But their many guns and camouflaged clothing made her realize immediately who they were.

But suddenly Lilly found herself with a gun pointed at the side of her head. "Stay where you are."

_David's vision came back blurrily, but the first thing he saw, for which he was grateful, was his best friends Russ and Gina. Gina had her face hidden in Russ's shoulder and he was patting her on the shoulder, looking anxious._

"_If you two get any closer the temperature's going to raise 10 degrees."_

_Gina jumped up, her face shining with tears, and Russ stood up too, a smile forming on his face. "We thought you were a goner," he said. "The doctor's said the bullet got caught in your ribcage. If your ribs were any farther, it would have gone straight into your heart."_

_David laughed, feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen. "So I guess this means no more short jokes?"_

"_No, it means more," Russ said._

_David laughed again, and stared around. "Where's…?"_

"_Your parents are getting the first plane out here," Gina said, her voice shaking. "And the doctors said that they didn't want too many people in here."_

"_And what makes you think I'd want to see you two more than anyone else?" David asked, grinning, to which he received a slap in the face, but not nearly as hard as it would have been if he wasn't in the hospital._

"_Don't you ever, ever do something to scare me like that again."_

Edward and David were deep in conversation about their favorite gum flavors while Simone was trying to talk to Rocco, but he wasn't responding. Suddenly, however, Edward stopped and pointed through the trees.

"Is that it?"

"Is what it?" David asked, looking puzzled at where Edward was pointing.

"That cabin, right there!" Edward said impatiently. Was David pulling his leg? It seemed like something he could do, but Simone and Rocco were also staring at Edward in confusion. "Uh…never mind. Let's keep going."

Throwing concerned, bewildered looks at Edward, the group was on its way again. Suddenly they stopped again, all hearing something this time. "That's Kate."

The three boys and one girl ran through the trees, almost headfirst into the three people standing there. They were all momentarily silent as they stared at each others' sudden appearances. It was David who said something first. "Kate!"

The two groups exchanged greetings. "What are you doing?" George asked them, noticing their bags at their sides.

"Up to the mountains," David answered, pointing at some random place in the mountains.

"We're going to find firecrackers," Edward piped up, and David grinned at him.

"Want to make a side-stop at the Tempest?" Kate suggested, knowing David's habit of disappearing for a few days and then randomly setting firecrackers everywhere.

"The Tempest?" Simone questioned, knowing where her workmates from the freighter had gone, and why they were going there. She was about to say something before Mattie interrupted.

"Yeah, it's her buddies who knocked me out and ran off anyway," Mattie said accusingly, taking a step forward. "You know something about this."

It was not a question, it was a statement. "No. I have no idea why they would want to go to this Tempest place, but it wasn't part of any plan, so it can't be of importance," Simone lied convincingly. "And these guys claim they found firecrackers in the middle of the jungle in a shack, so I'm curious about that."

"Right, want to join us?" David offered. Kate glanced backwards at Mattie and George, knowing that Mattie shouldn't be moving so much, and that she was determined to make it to the Tempest.

"_4. . 42."_

_There was always a start-of-school festival that some kids held. David and his friends always went, and just hung out, because it was mostly for little kids anyway. There were, however, tickets you could buy and submit them into a drawing._

"_Dude, that's you," Russ said, staring at David's ticket which he had just thrown on the ground._

"_Really?" David asked curiously, taking the little yellow ticket from his friend. "Australia, wow. One ticket, both ways."_

_The numbers matched, no doubt. Especially since he was finding it hard to breathe because Gina had thrown her arms around him. "Oh, David, you'll be missing school and everything! Get me something nice, okay?"_

"Captain's dead, doctor's dead," Sayid said to Derek, Noe, Michael, and Desmond. "And the men responsible are probably already at the island."

The four looked nervous, not saying anything to the expectant Sayid. "Who's coming with me?"

They all looked at the Zodiac the captain wanted them to take before he died. "I spent three years on that bloody island," Desmond said. "And I'm never setting foot on it again."

Noe and Derek exchanged looks. Neither wanted Sayid to go alone, nor did they want Desmond to stay on the boat by himself. "I'll go back-I read the papers," Noe volunteered.

"No," Derek said immediately. "It's too dangerous there. I'll go."

"It's dangerous here, with them, too," Noe retorted. "No one stays alone. I will go."

Derek looked hesitant, but he didn't press the subject, knowing that Noe wouldn't listen to him anyway. "We have to go, now," Sayid said to them.

"Stay safe," Derek said.

"You too," Noe said, kissing him quickly on the cheek before allowing Sayid to help her into the Zodiac, and they all looked back as the Zodiac sped out of sight.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Apple-stop, stop."

The night after Apple's dire warning, she and Abby snuck off and found the storage of the Dharma buses. They had been driving back to Locke's camp.

"What?" Apple asked as she pushed lightly on the brake.

Abby reached out and grabbed Apple's shoulder, not looking at her. "I think I'm going into labor."

"What?!" Apple repeated, looking around, as if a team of specialists were going to jump out and help her. "Are-are you sure, or-?"

"Apple, I think I'd know!" Abby shouted, squeezing Apple's shoulders and making her wince.

"Okay, okay," Apple said, hoping she sounded a lot braver than she really was. "I'm a doctor, I know what to do."

"You do?" Abby said graciously, now breathing heavily.

"No!" Apple said hysterically, and truthfully. "I-I don't specialize in-…"

"Apple!" Abby shouted, squeezing her eyes shut and moaning in pain.

"Okay, Abby," Apple said, almost on the verge of tears with fear. "Um…how far apart are the contractions?"

"How the hell should I know, all I know is there is a baby coming and you have to do something about it!" Abby yelled.

"Okay," Apple said again. She counted through the times when she felt her hand being crushed, and when she counted 63, she said, "Abby…can-can you push?"

_21-year-old David sat in his science lab, extremely bored. The thunder kept him awake, as did the constant pounding of heavy raindrops. But it was so dark outside, he felt himself drifting off to sleep nonetheless. It was hard to believe it was one o'clock in the afternoon._

_He glanced over at his friend Lyon, who looked just as bored as he did. He had his head propped up on his pencil when there was a huge crack of thunder and the power went out, causing several people to scream. The classroom was completely black._

_David reacted immediately. He threw back his chair and leapt under the science table, so only Lyon next to him could see him._

_The lights flashed back on, and after a few seconds, Lyon said, "Where'd David go?"_

"_David?" the teacher called. No response. Others started calling out his name, too, but still there was no response._

_People were chatting fearfully, some now suggesting ridiculous ideas as to what happened, when David emerged, grinning._

_Most people laughed, but a few girls slapped him._

"_Don't you ever, ever do something to scare me like that again."_

"Who wants to play Risk?" Danny asked, turning the dusty old box over to the group of people that had somehow gathered in John's house.

"What's Risk?" Brad questioned, walking over to him and examining the box with him as well.

"It's a game of world domination," Corey answered, and the two guys looked over at her. "It's simple. The countries are dealt out evenly to each player, up to six, and then they place their armies in the countries. Then they gradually set out to take over other countries. It's a long game," Corey added to the boys' confused looks. "Most of the time the people just surrender."

"We have time," Danny said with a smile, and Corey smiled back. Brad rolled his eyes without either of them noticing.

"You playing?" Corey asked Brad, who looked at her, confused again. "It's more fun with three people."

"I'll play," came Locke's, Sawyer's, and Hurley's voice from the hallway. The three of them jumped, not having noticed them standing there.

"I-I think I'll just watch, then," Brad said, evidently confused by the game.

He hung back and watched Locke and Corey fight for the lead. Danny eventually gave up and gave all his pieces to Corey, who beamed at him. Brad smirked and was about to comment when the phone rang.

**Ooh, guess who picks the next flashback? I do!**


	9. Don't Waste Your Last Breath

**I picked Brad, because now that my precious Guitar Hero controller broke I have no way to pretend to rock out anymore.**

**And now, for this mysterious character…it's time to die.**

"I won't."

"_You will_."

"Why don't you come over here and make me?"

"Listen, you do it, or you die, get it?"

Lilly was kneeling on the ground before a large metal pillar with a gun to her head. Martin Keamy of the freighter was trying to get her to deactivate it. She didn't want to betray Ben, but she was afraid, very afraid, to die.

Keamy tightened his grip on the trigger and Lilly's eyes teared up. Is this really the way Lillian Barker was going to die?

"No!" Lilly answered herself. "No-I'll…I'll do it." She reached out her trembling fingers to the number pad and entered the code. There was a whoosh of deactivation and the mercenaries smirked triumphantly.

"Looks like you're not gonna die after all…yet," Keamy said to Lilly, and pulled her off the ground by her shirt and pushed her forward. "Now we now where to go."

Lilly chose not to say anything. She hated herself for betraying Ben in such a way. Now, however, she wondered how these people knew where to go. This Widmore character knew a lot, and Lilly made a mental note to ask Ben what this whole deal with Widmore was.

That is, if she ever saw him again.

The thought brought tears to her eyes that quickly vanished—she didn't want the people thinking she was scared, even though she was. Lilly had to make it up for what she did—practically allowing these people to take Ben. But she wasn't going to let them. No, she was going to do something about it.

_Brad, Luke, Jason, and Mindy gathered around the locked door concealing their arguing parents. Ever since their father was discovered illegally funding Widmore Corporations, things had gone downhill for the family. His father lost the trial which brought them to where they were now._

"_You couldn't even tell your family about it, could you? Did you ever once, just once think of our children?" That was their mother's voice._

"_Some things are more important than family," said their father's voice._

"_More important than-do you even know what you're saying?!" their mother gasped. "They've got you brainwashed! I don't know what they're offering you to do this, but whatever it is, I don't want anything to do with it anymore!"_

_That was the tone of voice their mother used at the end of a discussion. The children scrambled to the stairs, pretending to be playing poker._

"_Come on, kids," their mother said._

"_What about Dad?" Brad asked, being the youngest, he was most concerned and least understanding._

"_Trust me, Brad, you won't want to see him just as much as he won't want to see you."_

"Alice Abigail doesn't sound right."

"No, it doesn't, you're right," Apple said, frowning, but her face lit up at the sight of her friend and her newborn baby girl, Alice. "What's the father's name?"

"Carlisle, but in no way am I naming Alice's middle name Carlisle."

"I didn't want you to," Apple laughed. "No, but you could, like, use the same first letter or something, like Cara or Charlene."

"Alice Cara…Alice Charlene," Abby repeated, holding her new child tight to her chest. "Alice Charlene Taylor…you know what, Apple, I like that."

Before Apple could respond, the sound of running feet came into earshot. They frowned and looked out the window of the Dharma van. "Tina! Valeria!"

The girls came to a skidding halt outside of the door and flung it open. "Oh my-," Tina froze at the sight of the baby.

"Tina, Valeria," Abby nodded to them. "Meet the newest member of the Taylor family-Alice Charlene."

Tina laughed and Valeria silently stretched out a gentle finger, which Alice grabbed, curling her own tiny fingers around Valeria's. They all laughed together…another miracle had taken place on the island.

"She's beautiful, Abby."

"Thanks," Abby replied, beaming. Her eyes were filled with tears of joy as she looked at her new daughter. "She looks just like her father, I can tell already!"

"Then her father must have been beautiful, too," Tina said. It was weird how in the danger they were in that they were all smiling widely.

"He was," Abby said solemnly, smile weakening slightly, but she cheered up soon after. "He'd be proud, I know."

"He would have good reasons to be," Apple said softly. Alice had stopped crying now; in fact she was laughing at all the attention she was getting. "Do I get to be Aunt Apple?"

Abby laughed. "Yeah, it doesn't look like we're going to be leaving this place any soon, and Alice needs a family."

"Welcome to your island family, Alice," Valeria smiled.

"_Donwaysyolasbre-"_

_Brad could tell by the looks of his band mates that he was screwing up big time. He wondered exactly what it was he was messing up, but he couldn't think straight. Maybe he shouldn't have had so much to drink before the show._

_Now he was feeling dizzy too. Was that it? Was Brad swaying on the spot or something? He certainly felt like it._

_Brad couldn't even remember the words anymore. Wait…he was singing, right? That's why he was on stage. Wow, he thought. I am so drunk. It's funny how that's the only statement you can say when you're drunk and be 100 sure of._

_That was the last thing that Brad thought before his eyes rolled back in his head and he hit the stage floor._

"Stop everything!"

The chatter that had been in their large group subsided and they all stared at David. He pointed a bit ahead of them. "Look."

"That's it, then?" Simone questioned, staring doubtfully at the tiny little shack that was probably as small as a child's bedroom.

"Yeah, it is," David nodded. "Er…it's a bit crowded in there, so, if one or two of you want to go in first, then, go ahead…I've been there, done that, nothing new to me."

The four of them stared around at each other, and Simone, who had wanted to go on this trip in the first place, started walking forward, with Rocco right behind her.

"Wow," Simone whispered as she opened the creaky door. "He's right, it is small."

"Yeah," Rocco said, too amazed to stay silent anymore. He froze. On a shelf on the wall was a baseball bat. It looked just like the one he had won with when he had first started dating Carly.

He moved slowly towards it and picked it up. It felt like the same one too-same weight. But there was no way it could be the same…unless…

He turned it over and stared at the top. There, in that red, faded sparkly gel pen were the words '_I'll always be yoursCarly.'_

And he knew it was hers…it was the same looped 'y' that she always wrote. He had no idea how it had gotten there. Rocco started to turn back to Simone, and was about to ask something, but was surprised to find her in tears.

"Um, Simone?" Rocco questioned and walked over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Simone said, and Rocco was surprised to hear how strong her voice was even though her face was tearstained. She was holding a piece of paper in her shaking hand. She looked down at it, knowing Rocco was wondering what it was and why it actually drove her to tears.

"Come on, you can't cry on my birthday," Rocco said, wanting to cheer her up.

"It's your birthday?" Simone questioned.

"Well, no," Rocco said uneasily. Simone laughed through her tears. "But what's that for anyway?"

"From my mother," Simone said bitterly. "I never knew her. I was raised alone with my dad. And this—this explains everything."

_Brad smiled at himself for making Claire laugh like that. But the smile turned into a scowl when he realized she was looking for Charlie too._

_Brad listened when Hurley came over and explained the whole thing to Claire. Charlie…dead? He personally felt Charlie as a bit of a rival for Claire's affection, though they were good friends, but now he was dead…his heart broke at the sight of Claire's tears._

"_Claire, I'm sorry," Brad began, and was interrupted when Claire pulled him into a hug._

"_He said everything was going to be okay," Claire sobbed. "He said not to worry about him. He told Aaron he loved him!"_

_Brad tried to take in all of this. He, too, told Claire that everything was going to be okay earlier when she said she was scared. And he felt guiltier than he could imagine. "Charlie died to save us, Claire, you heard Hurley," Brad said, and Claire nodded. "He died because he wanted to save Aaron because he loved Aaron…because he loved both of you."_

_Brad hated himself for saying it, but it was the truth, he just said it because he hoped Claire would cheer up, but it made her wail even more. "I knew him for three months, and he...thanks Brad," she said._

_Brad honestly didn't understand a word of that, but he was just glad he was helping. "Charlie's gone, Claire, but there are still others on the island that care about you like he did."_

_Claire's eyes met his and for a moment it looked as if they were brightening with realization, but then they were gone. But one day Brad would tell Claire that he loved her._

Brad, Corey, and Danny hurried in the footsteps of Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, and Ben. They were all confused and had to get into safety before Ben could explain things.

"Wait, Claire's not here," Brad froze in front of the door.

"Yeah, she's still sleepin', we can grab her real quick," Sawyer agreed, stepping away from the house and next to Brad.

"There's no time," Ben told them urgently.

"I'll make time," Brad and Sawyer said at the same time, taking guns out of their pockets and running in the direction of Claire's house.

"Hey, did you see if Claire-?" Brad began when he spotted someone waiting outside of their house, but a gunshot rang out and Brad jumped aside, leaving the man to fall dead.

And that repeated with two more people. "Let's go!" Sawyer yelled and they dashed towards Claire's house together. Brad spotted a rocket heading straight for the house and managed to yell "No!" before the entire thing exploded.

The two rushed through the debris and found Claire's body—awake and breathing. "Brad," she said weakly. "Where's Aaron?"

"He's with us, it's okay, we gotta move now," Sawyer said. He stood by, shooting into the trees while Brad scooped up Claire into his arms and they started running again.

Brad could see Ben's front door perfectly now, but it was still a while to go, and he could practically feel the bullets inches from his feet.

But he could easily feel the one that hit his back.

He dropped to the ground, taking Claire with him, and soon enough they were both kneeling over him. Claire was crying again.

_Don't waste your last breath…_

The lyrics he messed up so many years ago. The memories of his whole life were flooding back as clear as if they were happening at that moment, the collapse on stage, and Claire crying after Charlie's death. Now she was crying for him

_Don't waste your last breath…_

And he didn't plan on it. A shaking hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining silver locket shaped like a heart, pressing it into Claire's hand. He wanted the last thing he saw, he felt, to be her.

_Don't waste your last breath…_

"I…"

It was getting harder for Brad to talk. He looked down briefly at his bleeding abdomen and was shocked to see how much blood she had lost. He returned his gaze to Claire.

"I…"

He wished she wasn't crying. He didn't want to feel broken physically and heartbroken when he died.

"I love you."

**I updated. Finally. Short chapter, and I killed Brad. Golden-Black Dragon has permission to submit another OC.**


	10. Word Gets Out

**I suck. I beg your forgiveness. If you recall…**

_Derek looked hesitant, but he didn't press the subject, knowing that Noe wouldn't listen to him anyway. "We have to go, now," Sayid said to them._

"_Stay safe," Derek said._

"_You too," Noe said, kissing him quickly on the cheek before allowing Sayid to help her into the Zodiac, and they all looked back as the Zodiac sped out of sight._

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"_Looks like you're not gonna die after all…yet," Keamy said to Lilly, and pulled her off the ground by her shirt and pushed her forward. "Now we now where to go."_

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………"_Tina, Valeria," Abby nodded to them. "Meet the newest member of the Taylor family-Alice Charlene."_

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"_It's your birthday?" Simone questioned._

"_Well, no," Rocco said uneasily. Simone laughed through her tears. "But what's that for anyway?"_

"_From my mother," Simone said bitterly. "I never knew her. I was raised alone with my dad. And this—this explains everything."_

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………_._

Don't waste your last breath…

_The lyrics he messed up so many years ago. The memories of his whole life were flooding back as clear as if they were happening at that moment, the collapse on stage, and Claire crying after Charlie's death. Now she was crying for him_

Don't waste your last breath…

_And he didn't plan on it. A shaking hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining silver locket shaped like a heart, pressing it into Claire's hand. He wanted the last thing he saw, he felt, to be her._

Don't waste your last breath…

"_I…"_

_It was getting harder for Brad to talk. He looked down briefly at his bleeding abdomen and was shocked to see how much blood she had lost. He returned his gaze to Claire._

"_I…"_

_He wished she wasn't crying. He didn't want to feel broken physically and heartbroken when he died._

"_I love you."_

**Things to clear up. 1, I'm still sorry about Brad and Golden-Black Dragon, I love your new character. And you didn't pick a character flashback so I'm using Johnny and you can pick next chapter. And I'm not sure how the whole "blood brothers" thing goes so forgive me if I make a fool of myself. 2, Dance in the Moonlight, sorry, but I'm making up the part of Simone's past on the letter. 3, I totally skipped over the freighter/Team Jack stuff last chapter, so I'll be doing that first. 4, Claire doesn't wander off with her zombie-dad in this story. Sorry again! Enjoy!**

"They left already, Deacon, did you know about this?" Johnny interrogated his workmate.

"Keamy's gone insane, man, we have no choice, we got to team up with these people," Deacon argued. "For their safety and ours."

Johnny paused. He couldn't argue with that. "Game plan. Which one of them stayed?"

Deacon hesitated. Johnny was a nice, clever guy in his way, but he wasn't sure they got along too well. Fine, of course, but there was something about him…

"Hume and Murray," Deacon answered, interrupting his thoughts. He had to concentrate. He, as his own words, had no choice.

Johnny immediately set off and Deacon fell into a quick pace behind him. The two men sitting on bunks discussing quietly looked up quickly.

"Hi, I'm not sure we've met-," Johnny began immediately.

"No. I know you," Derek said, examining the newcomers. "Johnny Hayes. Guitarist for Dead Aces. You must be here for Brad."  
"That's right," Johnny smiled in surprise.

"Oh, he'll be so glad to see you, I mean, a friend and a rescuer, if I were you I'd never let him live it down," Derek grinned as well. Desmond and Deacon exchanged exasperated glances. "He's got the _biggest_ crush on this girl there."

"Does he?" Johnny said mischievously. "That sounds like him. So how's-?"

Deacon cleared his throat. They looked at him. "Game plan, remember?" Deacon muttered.

"Oh! Right," Johnny recalled. "Listen, our mercenary Keamy has gone off his rocker. We have reason to believe-,"

"That they're going to kill everyone on the island because he's already killed your captain?" Derek interrupted. Johnny and Deacon nodded. "We don't need to believe. We know it's true. Noe found the instructions how to do it."

There was silence just for a moment before Deacon whispered; "Well now that changes everything."

_Johnny had no particular feeling for new students. Usually he just left them be and they went off with some other clique. But this time was different. Through the curtains of long blonde hair he happened to notice the new kid was wearing an Appetite for Destruction t-shirt. You wouldn't find many people with a Guns N Roses shirt round their school._

"_Hey, I like your shirt," Johnny said as he passed._

_He looked up. "Thanks. Yours too," the new kid said, eyeing Johnny's Hells Bells shirt._

"_Thanks," Johnny said. "I just love music. If a shirt doesn't have a band name on it, it's not worth wearing."_

_The new kid laughed. "That is so true. I'm Brad."_

"_Johnny."_

"Why'd you bring him back?"

"We had to," Claire sobbed and sat by Brad's body. There was a knock on the door.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Ben warned. Danny ignored him and answered.

"Miles?" he questioned as he stumbled inside. He quickly bolted the door shut again. "Who let you out?"

"The people who gave this," Miles said, holding up a walkie-talkie. Corey, Danny, Hurley, and Claire watched Sawyer, Ben, Locke, and Miles argue until Miles, frustrated, yelled that they're hostage was Lilly.

Without hesitation Ben grabbed the walkie-talkie. No one could hear the conversation. Soon enough Ben was at the window. Corey cautiously followed him with Danny right by her side.

Lilly was bound at Keamy's feet and tears were streaming down her face. Corey wasn't a fan of the Others, but the moment she saw Keamy's face her heart skipped. Calmly, without a word, she went back into the other room and knelt by Brad's body searching him.

"What are you doing?" Claire gasped.

Without a word Corey pulled the gun he had while he was trying to save Claire off of his person and walked back to the window, yanking the walkie-talkie out of Ben's hand. "Hello Martin," she said, failing to keep the hatred out of her voice.

"Who is this?"  
"You probably don't remember, because my father is just another face you've killed," Corey said, her voice shaking.

"Corey, stop," Danny said warningly.

"Get Benjamin out of the house and you won't go like your dad."

"I'm not going anywhere," Corey continued. "You see, Martin, the first time I ever used a gun was on this island. That was for hunting. This isn't."

Without warning Corey lifted the gun and with surprisingly good aim fired immediately Keamy dropped his hold on Lilly as he grabbed his arm in pain. She hurriedly broke through the binds and Ben ran to the door to let her in.

"Lilly, thank God, are you-?"

She rushed past him in full intent of making up for what she had done. Ben looked on, confused, until he saw her push past a bookcase and into a room in which a large steel door slammed down behind her.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sawyer questioned. "What is she doing?"  
Danny, however, had other things on his mind. "What's up, Corey, how do you know that man?" She wouldn't answer.

After a few minutes of hushed conversation Lilly reappeared, still speechless. "Lilly, why…?" Ben managed to say.

"We don't have much time," Lilly announced. "I need you to do exactly as I say…"

Lilly dished out some orders very quickly. Everyone else looked completely lost. Before they were able to get their thoughts in order a huge cloud of black smoke rushed by the window to where the mercenaries were positioned in the trees. Ben gave a quick shout to run outside.

"What did you do?" Corey shouted.

"Did you just call that thing?" Hurley said in disbelief.

"Get to the trees," Ben said softly. Most people ran to the trees.

"Wait, we have to go back for Brad!" Claire shouted over to them. No one turned around.

"Claire, we can't!" Corey said sympathetically. "I know you miss him, we all do, but we have to go!"

After a few moments Claire nodded and followed her to the tree line where they found a heated discussion going on. Sawyer was saying, "I'm going back to the beach, and Claire and the kid are coming with me! That good with you?"

"Yeah that's good with me," Claire answered shakily. She turned to Corey and Danny. "What about you?"

They glanced at each other. They were both clearly interested in what the cabin was all about. Corey threw a cold look at Miles. "I'm staying with Locke."  
Danny looked at his friends standing waiting for his response. After what seemed like forever he said. "I'm going back to the beach."

She hugged him good-bye, looked away, and both groups went their separate ways.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Okay, where are we?"

"That's a question I've been asking since we crashed here, Valeria," Apple answered curtly.

"Wow, Apple," Valeria rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant. This is not the way back to Locke's camp."  
"It could be."

"Yeah, if you knew where we were!" Valeria argued.

"Please, lower your voices, you're upsetting Alice," Tina said as the baby began to fuss.

"Sorry," they both whispered. "Look," Apple went on. "We're bound to find it sometime."

"Yeah, when we run out of gas and have to walk with the newborn. This is awful. Maybe we should head back to this place you came from."  
"The Others' place?!" Abby demanded. "That's bloody mad. They were going to…to…cut this baby out of me. We can't."

"We have to go somewhere," Valeria reasoned. "At least then we'll know where we are. You said it was in the mountains, right?"

"She has a point," Tina said. "I mean, we don't even have to go back. If we just go in that general direction, then we can have direction. As long as we go and they don't know we're there."  
"That's an idea," Apple said. Abby still looked uneasy.

"They always know where we are, though," she said quietly. And no one could deny it.

"_Dude we're already like brothers. This is insane."_

"_You're insane," Brad said. Johnny shrugged his approval. "But this is totally normal. People would do it all the time. I just never found anyone to be my blood brother…until you."_

_Johnny smiled. "You're right. This is cool. Brothers at heart and brothers at blood, yeah?"_

_Brad didn't respond and just made a swift cut on his right palm and handed the knife to Johnny, who did the same on his left hand._

_They grasped hands quickly. "I love you, man, you're my best friend and brother," Johnny said._

"Because the men on that helicopter have every intention of killing us all," Sayid explained while Noe stood at his side.

Mattie sighed. "Jack and Kate just went running after it."

"Can we catch up?" Sayid asked, already walking toward the tree line.

"You can, but she can't," George intervened, putting a hand on Mattie's shoulder and pushing her back slightly. She looked insulted. "Look, I'm sorry, you're pregnant, you look exhausted, and it's fine. I'll go."

"We can all go," Mattie argued.

"Look, I don't care who's going, I just need to go, now," Sayid said impatiently.

"We should get these people off the island while you're gone," Nat said.  
"Sun and Mattie are pregnant. They should go first," Juliet added.

"See?" George said. "She's right. You need to leave."

Mattie sighed. She could tell she was going to lose this argument. "Be safe."

"You too."

"I'll start taking them over," Noe volunteered.

"Don't forget about the bearing…3-0-5," Daniel reminded her. She nodded her thanks.

"Sun, Mattie…after you," She offered them the boat. They both stepped in, Jin following them. Three others stepped in after them. "We'll come back for you all!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"That helicopter is our only way off this island," Jack was saying.

"Don't. Please. They killed Brad. They would have killed us, too," Claire said quietly.

"We have to try," Jack said sympathetically.  
"We'll die trying!" Danny shouted. "This is stupid. If you feel it's your responsibility, fine. But you're not going alone. I'll come. That way if one of us doesn't survive…well, we have a warning."

"Unless you both don't survive," Sawyer muttered.

"Just take Claire and Kate back to the beach," Danny ordered. Sawyer looked insulted, but turned around, muttering to come on to Miles, Claire, and Kate, to come with him.

As Danny and Jack began walking, Danny noticed Jack's shirt had a large blood stain on it. "What happened?"

"Juliet took my appendix out a couple of days ago," Jack explained.

"What?" Danny explained. "You're serious?" Jack nodded. "You shouldn't be up. Let me keep going. You head back."  
"No," Jack stated clearly. "I said before, it's my responsibility. I made the choice of putting them on that helicopter. I'm making sure they get back safely."

Danny could see that he wasn't going to convince Jack to go back.

_Johnny sat with his feet up on another desk, leaning back with his guitar in hand, strumming a few random chords to whatever song popped into his head._

"_Smells Like Teen Spirit," Isaac said immediately._

"_Ah, not a grunge fan," Dave said._

"_You and your excuses," Isaac said. "Go on, Johnny. Play us another one."_

_Johnny played a part of another one. This time they all answered at the same time. "Ziggy Stardust!"_

"_I think Brad got it," Johnny said and played another song._

"_Crossroads," Brad said quickly._

_Johnny nodded and played some more. "Oh, dude, I love this song!" Brad said and started singing along. Dave started playing the drum beat._

"Crazy, but that's how it goes, millions of people, living as foes, maybe, it's not too late, to learn how to love, and forget how hate," _Brad sang along.  
"You've got a great voice," Isaac said. "And Dave's a good drummer…and Johnny sure can play."_

"_What are you thinking, man?" Johnny asked suspiciously._

"_I'm thinking I play bass, and that's what makes a good band," Isaac said. They looked at each other in deep thought._

"_Sounds good to me," Johnny was the first one to say something._

"Hey, Johnny, they're back," Deacon said into Johnny's room as Johnny was playing his Les Paul Stratocaster absentmindedly. He jumped up immediately and ran with Deacon up on deck.

Six survivors piled on the deck with Noe. Derek was already there. "Hey, González," Johnny yelled. She looked over. "I'm coming back with you."

"No!" Noe shouted. "_They're going to kill everyone. _You have to stay here."

"You don't understand," Johnny said. "My brother's there. My brother. I have to save him."  
Derek and Noe looked at him sympathetically. "I'll go too," Deacon offered. "But this isn't so personal. I'm going to try to save your friends."  
"You don't have to do that, we've got it covered, we're bringing them back here," Noe said, grateful for the offer.

"Yeah, but where do you think Keamy's going to bring Linus once he's got him?" Deacon argued. Noe couldn't answer. "I never liked Keamy. Time he's got what's coming to him."

"We can't stop you?" Derek asked. He shook his head.

"I'll bring you two back," Noe said and began climbing back into the Zodiac.

"Wait!"

They turned around to see Mattie. She looked straight into Deacon's eyes and started crying. "I want to come."

"Mattie, you're pregnant, you can't," Noe said. "George and Juliet insisted you come here."  
"I know, believe me, I'm really thankful," Mattie said. "But my brother and sister are there. Just hide me. Pretend I'm here. Please. I'm coming whether you let me or not. I only came so George wouldn't worry."

"Hey, we going or not?" Johnny said impatiently.

Noe hesitated. "Yeah. All of us are going."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I spy something green," Edward said.

"Green?" David questioned. "Um, the leaves?"

"Damn," Edward said. "You're good."

"Do you hear something?"

"Yes," Edward answered. "Actually no. Not at all. Wait…" He paused and listened intently. "It sounds like a car."

They stood up hesitantly and soon a Dharma Initiative van pulled up. Three people rushed out of the van. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?" Apple shouted.

"Better question, why did you just pull up here in a Dharma Initiative bus?" David asked hesitantly.

"Abby had her baby!" Tina announced. "They're in the car!"

"Good answer," Edward muttered.

"Well, me and Abby were at the Temple, with the Others, right?" Apple explained. "So I heard this conversation and they were going to hurt Abby so we stole the bus and left, and Abby went into labor, and then they came along!"

"Yeah, and me and Tina went looking for them and about four hours later we found Abby with Alice!" Valeria told her side of the story.

David and Edward exchanged confused looks. "Can't argue with that logic," David said. They both followed the girls to the van to see the newborn.

"Congrats, Abby," David grinned.

"Oh my God, she's adorable!" Edward said.

"Thanks, guys," Abby smiled.

"Rocco and Simone are in the little shack, they should be out in a second," Edward said and explained what had been happening with them.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rocco asked.  
"I don't know," Simone said. "We've been here for a while. We should go out and get David and Edward."  
"We got time," Rocco said. She shrugged. "Well anyway…this place is weird, isn't it? It has a bunch of, I don't know…personal kind of stuff. I think this is how those freaks…I mean, Others know so much about us."

"What has happened to you guys?" Simone asked before she could help herself. She never knew the whole story, and witnessing the survivors with the problems they've faced. But they never trusted her enough to say anything about it.

"It's _sort of_ a long story," Rocco said.  
"We got time," Simone argued. Rocco laughed.

"If you insist," Rocco said and started explaining as much as he could about the experience on the island so far. She looked as if she'd been slapped in the face by the time he'd finished.

"No wonder you guys are so…I don't know, you don't trust us," Simone said. She looked hesitant. "And-and with good reason."

"What?" Rocco said sharply.

"I'm not supposed to know this," Simone whispered. "They're coming for some guy…Ben. And when they have him they're going to kill everyone. Everyone."

Now it was Rocco's turn to be speechless. "I'm sorry," Simone said, tears running down her face again. "Wow, I'm really sorry. This isn't like me."

Rocco grabbed her hand and led her towards the door. "Then we have to get out of here. Now."

**YEAH! So I didn't update before school like I planned. But I got a nice long chapter for you. I'm so sorry! I'll update more frequently! I hope!**


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